Information and their characteristics

We are surrounded by information. We always work and deal with information everyday. But, have we thought where this information come from, or how this information is created. So, today let’s talk about What is information and how it is created.

Before, we start our journey on information, there is one more topic we need to focus on. It is Data. Data is as much as important as Information because it is the foundation of information. Without Data, no Information can be created.

What is Data?

Data is raw facts and figures. It can be numbers, characters, symbols or images which does not provide an exact meaning or properly organized. For an example, 12,10,45,7,3.5 are numbers. Does it give you a meaning? Or are these numbers properly organized? They are just few number which do not bear any relevance to anything particular. Or, let’s take some characters such as A, B, G, F, c, r, f or some symbols such as @, &, $. Do they have any meaning? The answer is No. So, these types of raw facts can be considered Data. So, Data is meaningless and not properly organized.

What is Information?

Information is data organized meaningfully. We use data as input in the process of creating information which is meaningful and properly organized. If I take the numbers I used as Data before; 12,10,45,7 , I can organize these data into meaningful information as follows.

Marks for ICT subject of students of Grade 12 -A class

Ann-12, George-10, John-45,Mark-7

Does this covey some meaning to you? Yes, isn’t it? So, this is called information. The raw figures which we obtained as Data is processed and well organized which gives us information.

Data vs Information

According to above example, you can understand that we can create information by processing data.

Data alone is rarely useful. But, information created from data is highly valuable. This process of creating information is used everywhere. Since we are focusing on Computer Systems, let me give you an example.

Think about a Super Market. You buy different items and hand them over in the cashier. The person in the counter add the details of these items one by one into the Computer System and process the Unit Price, Number of Items, Total amount, discounted price, etc. Finally he hand you over a nicely printed bill which contains all the information you want. It is well organized. It provides meaning to you. The bill contains information which is processed through a Computer System which took Data as input. This is one simple example. There are millions of Computer Systems which does the same thing. Process Data and generate Information.

Types of Data

Data can be classified into two types.

1. Qualitative Data — Qualitative Data can be defined as data which describes characteristics. It does not convey any numerical value. For an example if you are collecting data about quality rather than quantity, those data can be classified as Qualitative data such as Colour, Accuracy, Clarity, etc.
2. Quantitative Data — Quantitative Data as the word suggests, it is data which describes the numerical values. It is measurable and arranged in numerical order or subjected to arithmetic process. For an example, Marks obtained for ICT paper.

Characteristics of Information

With all these explanation, you might have thought that all information is valuable. Yes. Information is valuable, but only if the information have following characteristics. Information with these characteristics help us making smart decisions.

1. Relevance — Information should be relevant or suitable to the purpose for which it is required. So, if a manager requires information on marketing strategy of the company, but provide employee’s performance information instead, the relevance of information is not acquired. So, though the information is generated it will not be valuable.
2. Timeliness — Information should be produced in the correct time which is needed the most. If the information received after the due course is finished, the value of information is less.
3. Accuracy — The provided information should be accurate and realistic. If it is not, the decisions taken based on wrong information can lead to many issues.
4. Completeness — Information should contain all the details required by the user. Otherwise it may not be useful for the decision making process.
5. Understandability — Information should be put in a way users can perceive the intended meaning easily. It should be clear and unambiguous. If it is not understandable enough then the value of information is less.

The golden rule of Information

The golden rule of information presents that the value of information at the highest at the time the information is created. With time, the value is gradually reduced.

Big Data Analytics

Organizations such as large private companies and research institutes capture terabytes of data about their user’s activities in business and social media. They process these data and provide us with various suggestions based on our likings and expectations. For an example, when you visit YouTube, it suggests hundreds of videos which may interest you. Those information is captured based on the past videos and topics you have searched or watched frequently. And if you search on building or re-designing your home, some social media pages would suggest you pages, groups or ideas which is relevant to that. Interesting, isn’t it? This is called Big Data Analytics. It involved collecting data from various sources and manage and process them in a way where to fulfill the organization’s data requirements.